Green Award for innovation given to southern California federal agency

EPA News Release:

Green Award for innovation given to southern California federal agency

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced it has selected the Chet Holifield Building in Laguna Niguel to receive a Federal Green Challenge award for its work in environmental education and outreach.

“EPA is pleased to recognize the Chet Holifield Building for its outstanding leadership to reduce their environmental footprint,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “By taking the initiative to reduce waste and conserve water and energy, this agency will not only help motivate other federal agencies and organizations to follow suit, but save the government money as well.”

The Chet Holifield Building was selected for its work to reduce recycling and energy costs through education and outreach. The building created a Green Team representing five agencies. They reached the 1,900 employees through various outreach activities including e-mail broadcasts, website information, posters and Earth Week activities. The Green Team hosted electronicwaste collection events, developed a sustainability tip sheet and hosted a water conservation speaker from the Moulton Water District. Over the past year, as a result of these efforts, the Chet Holifield Building increased recycled materials by 21%, decreased water use by 7.4% and decrease gas use by 2.5%.

In total, Federal Green Award participants regionally:

--reduced over 57.5 million kWh of electricity and 342 million cubic feet of natural gas (equivalent to the energy used in a year by almost 2200 households);

--prevented over 40,000 tons of waste from reaching landfills, through composting and recycling, resulting in reduced greenhouse gas emissions by over 107,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (the equivalent of taking over 22,000 cars off the road for a year);

--reduced water usage by over 357 billion gallons; and

--saved over $16.6 million by reducing waste, water and energy use.

The Federal Green Challenge is a national effort to challenge EPA and other federal agencies to reduce the federal government's environmental impact. Offices or facilities start their participation by selecting a minimum two of the six target areas—waste, electronics, purchasing, energy, water, or transportation—and commit to improve by at least 5% per year in their selected target areas.

For more information on the Federal Green Challenge winners, visit: www.epa.gov/region9/federalgreenchallenge/awards/pacificswawards/

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